Unboxious

It’s pretty mixed. Most of this stuff wasn’t very good, but Medalist was great, in no small part due to its impressive animation. Hopefully this gets the full Medalist-tier treatment, but if not I’ll still be happy as long as the jokes still land.

I’m actually kinda happy Rem woke up but can’t remember anything; hopefully she can become a more interesting character again.

Certainly Gintama. Several of the main characters are parodies of actual Japanese historical figures few westerners would recognize, and there are a ton of points where it plays off of everything from other influential anime that non-anime fans might at least be tangentially familiar with (Gundam for example) to classic rakugo stories that they definitely will have never heard of (Jugemu).

Do you have a source for that? All I’m seeing is an interview last may where he said they won’t use generative AI tools for the production of their subs and dubs. animecorner.me/crunchyroll-ceo-says-anime-creator…

So yes, there was one show where this happened, but IIRC Crunchyroll put a statement out that that was the translator they hired being lazy, not Crunchyroll choosing to use AI subs.

I’d bet they’re trying too hard to match mouth flaps or something.

Well in this case it’s Netflix, so there was never any chance we’d get on-screen text anyways. I don’t think their video player can handle displaying on-screen text while also displaying dialogue.

You have any source at all for that? I’m pretty sure the subs would be way worse if that were actually the case.

The Goods (in no particular order)

• Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You - It’s sweet. I really love Tamaya’s manager and Sasaki’s coworker. Tamaya also knows how to have some fun, though Sasaki himself could use a little more personality.
• The Elusive Samurai Season 2 - The original manga was already pretty weird, but season 2 of the anime has solidly placed it in “batshit insane” territory, all while telling a good and coherent story. Honestly this one might’ve ended up with “the greats” if “the goods” section didn’t look so lonely.
• Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia - An excellent and very unusual anime. Cutest Mongols you’ll ever see. This is another one I wavered on when categorizing, but I just didn’t find myself looking forward to each new episode as much as I did with some other shows.

The Greats (in no particular order)

• Re:ZERO - This season had everything. New enemies and obstacles? Check. Ram reminding us she’s best girl? Check. Cool new fantasy environment? Double check. Subaru dying in horrible ways? Sooo many check. He did get some new clothes so he doesn’t look homeless anymore though, so good for him.
• You and I Are Polar Opposites Season 2 - Season 1 was incredibly cute and incredibly well-executed. Season 2? Also incredibly cute, also incredibly well-executed.
• The Ghost in the Shell - What can I say? I liked the 1995 film and loved Stand-Alone Complex, but this stands above even that for me. Truly a great Ghost in the Shell experience; I really hope we get more of it.
• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You Season 3 - My favorite character (Naddy) has finally been introduced, and I’m extremely pleased with how she was handled. They also introduced another character I don’t care so much for, but overall this season was hilarious. An absolute riot.
• Goodbye, Lara - A very sweet Little Mermaid story. Feels more like a Miyazaki movie than perhaps any other non-Miyazaki thing I’ve ever seen. The ending wasn’t great, but it also wasn’t bad enough to ruin an otherwise excellent show.

The Rest (in descending order of goodness)

• Clevatess Season 2 - It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t as good as the first season. Probably my biggest disappointment of the season; I’m not certain I’ll watch a third season if they ever make one.
• KAIJU GIRL CARAMELISE - For such a fun premise this show was boring af.
• The Exiled Heavy Knight Something Something Something Something - I started watching because I wanted to experience the notorious GoHands cinematography. Oh boy did that first episode not disappoint; this might be the first time I’ve thought an anime was actually difficult to look at. Unfortunately there are other problems; the story is just the same dull isekai slop you’re likely imagining from the title and the pacing is awful. On top of that, recent episodes haven’t even been doing insane camera movements or any of the other weird shit that made this show pique my interest in the first place. Lately it’s just been kinda boring.

Not From This Season

• Devilman Crybaby - This has to be the most batshit insane anime I’ve ever seen, and that includes Mind Game. It’s the perfect show for anyone who wants to watch a very nsfw story about a guy trying his best to do what he can for a perilous world, accompanied by his friend Evil Tomoyo.

FWIW everyone else I know disagrees quite a bit. I personally think it resembles seasons 1 & 2 more than 3, and my friends and family who are watching the show all agree that this is the best season yet.

The love between Isami and Bravern in Brave Bang Bravern. Unironically.

That’s a relief!

Well I can agree with that. Crunchyroll has been on the decline ever since Sony bought them.

I assumed OP was talking about the white rectangle that says "Penname: Ochinpo Tatsuo (Dick Tatsuo) Real Name: (I have no idea how to read that sorry Japanese names are hard)

Lack of money. I’m sure most translators would be happy to do a better job if they were given the time and money necessary to do so.

Also I’m not certain Crunchyroll’s new player can even render the subtitles while also rendering more English text for the name.

It definitely feels like this is playing out almost exactly the same way the last dungeon did.

I haven’t seen everything on the list, but out of the ones I have seen (Orb, Steins;Gate, Ping Pong, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Mob Psycho 100) not a single one is beaten by Demon Slayer in my eyes. Like CrazyLikeGollum said, the production quality is fantastic but the writing is just not nearly as good.

For me it has to be LOOK BACK. What a great movie.

I really like Laios from Dungeon Meshi/Delicious and Dungeon. Fun character, and possibly the best autism representation in anime.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes also has some really well-written male characters, doubly so if you’re a fan of depressed guys in uniform.

An entire episode dedicated to Ram being cool? I’ll take it!

I assumed that was referencing her departure from the ocean.

Yeah, but she doesn’t need to move out of town to accomplish that. I think it would’ve been better if she would’ve just moved to her own apartment in-town. Still gains her independence, but without leaving behind all these human connections she worked so hard to make.

It was a good show overall, but I agree that the ending was unsatisfying. Lara wanting to peace out and live on her own in a completely different city felt like it came out of nowhere and lead to nothing.

Ramparts of Ice is good, but it’s not on Crunchyroll. At least, not in my region.

Sadly Monday evenings don’t work for me, but I wish you the best with this; community watch parties sound like a lovely idea.

I would’ve been happy with a “this series is about Lara’s love for Mari” ending, or a “this series is about Lara’s love for the friends she met along the way” ending, but “Lara suddenly decides she’s gonna leave everyone and peace out for… reasons…” was very abrupt and unfortunately has lowered my opinion of the show a bit.

I’ll definitely be watching Apothecary Diaries season 3, The Ramparts of Ice, and Blue Box season 2. I might give Rayearth a try as well, since I’ll likely have the time. Nothing else has caught my eye, but we’ll see if I think any different once these shows actually release and I watch a review or two.

Depends on what you like. A few things that have been airing lately that are really good:

• You and I Are Polar Opposites - low-stress romance; very cute
• Daemons of the Shadow Realm - action adventure thing from the writer of Fullmetal Alchemist
• Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia - somewhat unusual; the story of a mongol slave who wants revenge on those who took everything from her
• Goodbye, Lara - a modern Little Mermaid story

Some things that are less recent, but still excellent:

• Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - possibly the best action-adventure anime ever made
• Gurren Lagann - cool shit with giant robots
• Journal with Witch - A solitude-loving author takes in her niece after the death of her sister
• Kaguya-sama: Love is War - Two incredibly prideful high-schoolers fall in love with each other, each trying to trick the other into admitting it first
• Brave Bang Bravern! - big gay robots
• Re:ZERO - A dumbass gets transported to a fantasy world; his only power is that he goes back in time whenever he gets killed. He generally has a bad time, and it’s only partially his fault.

If you specifically wanted stuff aimed at female fans both Jaadugar and Journal with Witch definitely qualify.

I think there’s probably more now than there ever has been though!

It’s gotta be The 100 Girlfriends Who Really Really Really Really REALLY Love You. Starting out, you wish you were Rentarou. By the time you’ve finished the first couple season you’ll just wish you were dating him instead.

Reverse? Ouran is a classic for a reason. Btw, for those who don’t know the Ouran anime doesn’t even cover half of the manga so I’d definitely recommend giving it a read as well.